Mortgage Equations

A borrower who does not meet the underwriting requirements of mainstream lenders. Sub-prime borrowers pay more than prime borrowers and are sometimes taken advantage of. ...

Every ARM is tied to an interest rate index. An index has three relevant features:availibility, level, volatility. All the common ARM indexes are readily available from a published source, ...

A lender who specializes in lending to sub-prime borrowers. ...

The method of financing used when a borrower contracts to have a house built, as opposed to purchasing a completed house. Construction can be financed in two ways. One way is to use two ...

A rate lock, plus an option to reduce the rate if market interest rates decline during the lock period. ...

On an ARM, the assumption that the value of the index to which the interest rate is tied does not change from its initial level. ...

Same as term Bridge Loan: A short-term loan, usually from a bank, that 'bridges' the period between the closing of a home purchase and the closing of a home sale. To qualify for a bridge ...

A very large increase in the payment on an ARM that may surprise the borrower. The term is also used to refer to a large difference between the rent being paid by a first-time home buyer ...

A biweekly mortgage on which biweekly payments are applied to the balance every two weeks, rather than monthly, as on a conventional biweekly. ...